Nissan Patrol 4x4 (Africa)

Hi Gents

Have you guys heard of Gerbers Alu drawer system? It’s made of aluminum instead of steel, so it will be much lighter than frontrunner drawer system.

I have been looking for a lightweight drawer system for a long time. Frontrunner is insanely heavy, almost 80 Kg’s. If you know of any other manufacturers please let me know.

https://www.gerbers4wd.co.za/2.Fortuner ... oductsWrap

Looks ok but is it woth the money ?got a full african outback one now for 4.5k available....is it worth the 10kg difference in weight?

Hi Tinus

Not so sure of the weight difference. I am assuming it will be much lighter than steel drawer. Will call them on Monday

Unless the steel system is seriously over-designed, or the aluminium one seriously under-designed, then the weight difference is probably less than you seem to expect.

Aluminium is 1/3rd the weight of steel, but (considering fatigue resistance) probably about half the strength. So, assuming the design strength and efficiency is the same (unlikely, but still), there would be little difference in weight.

Also, several of the heaviest components (sliders etc) will still be steel.

Having said that, any reduction in weight is worth something, and if you don't mind paying the extra, then go for it.

The bearings etc add a ton of weight and waste a lot of space. Burnco make drawers that consist of a 10mm square tube frame, alu drawers, and some sort of teflon type extrusion as runners. No wasted space and very light compared to the old fashioned designs out there.
I buy the bare frame and I stall it myself to satisfy my pedanticness

(Photo taken on a redundant tablet so hopefully the photo comes through ok)

I used that very same Teflon strip on my drawer system. There is a thread somewhere on here that shows what I did and how I did it, which also has the details of the Teflon strip and it's supplier. My frame is angle iron and flat bar, even more efficient in terms of space, and despite steel drawers, it weighs less than 30kg.

Having said that, on my trailer I used roller-style runners, as they just move more easily. My wife has trouble operating the teflon-supported drawers in the car when they are heavily loaded.

Ja the bottom bearing surface on mine sits on light guage angle iron

I called them yesterday to get an idea of how much it weighs and costs.

Apparently they manufacture drawers using two materials; stainless steel and galvanised aluminium. According to them these two materials are stronger and lighter, which is also true. Weight wise they concluded it would be close to 50 KG's, which is a rough estimate but not over; Frontrunner or big country is close to 75kg. Spec is same as frontrunner drawer system. However the cost is insanely estimated to 13000 exc VAT, just the drawer and another 300/H for installation

So I decided to wait it out for now

Build your own using Alu and connect it, get sliders from Furnlock...............

Galvanized Aluminium? Or Anodised?

Never heard of anybody galvanising Aluminium, although I guess it is technically possible.

Yes, that's a hell of a lot of money for a 25kg weight reduction.

Just by the way, what's the Y62's payload?